


Cry

by Aluxra



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 09:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11461152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aluxra/pseuds/Aluxra
Summary: When you lose a limb and risk losing the only family you’ve known, you just need to cry.





	Cry

**Author's Note:**

> [Original Posted:](http://aluxra.tumblr.com/post/159461021942/you-know-its-ok-to-cry-mcgenji) Apr 11th, 2017
> 
> Set at the the tail end of pre-fall Overwatch before McCree left and everything went up in smoke and flames.
> 
> Headcanon that both Jack and Gabe are guilty of hiding quite a few things when they needed to, to protect themselves and a few choice others. McCree’s recruitment into Blackwatch was somewhat vague on both sets of books.
> 
> Enjoy xxx

He was three days into a week-long stay in the infirmary and he was already feeling stir-crazy from it. The morphine kept the worst of the edge off, but every couple of hours he’d wake up with the sensation of pins and needles spearing up his arm, his muscles seizing so badly he couldn’t even flex to shift the pain, his arm frozen in the elevated bindings above the bed.

Angela told him it was a good sign, it meant his nerves were establishing connections with the prosthesis and the risk of rejection would be lower for it. Infection of the remaining tissue was their next priority, his arm wrapped from wrist to shoulder in protective dressings to avoid contamination. It couldn’t cover the smell though, astringent and bitter, making his head hurt and his stomach roll with nausea.

It was fully dark when he woke up again, after hazing in and out of half-sleep, half-awake throughout the day. He blinked sluggishly, his free hand reaching up to dislodge the grit from his eyes, and he looked around the dimly lit room. The only light came from above the exit, illuminating the doors in fluorescent yellow.

He sighed, wincing at the burst of bone deep prickling in his arm, reaching to rub at his shoulder when he jumped in fright, sucking in a startled breath through his teeth. He released it with a slow, heavy hiss, the tension slowly seeping out of his shoulders.

‘Jesus, Genji, you’re gonna send me to my grave.’

He let his head fall back onto the pillow, sinking into it as he watched Genji out the corner of his eye, the faint red glow of his armour casting an eerie light across the tubes and metal clamped onto his body. He didn’t say anything, distracted by something on his mind, sitting on the chair beside McCree’s bed, his arms folded loosely across his chest. He was so still McCree focused on his chest till he could pinpoint the minute shift in the rise and fall of it.

‘So, is everyone gonna take turns at night nurse, or did you just draw the short straw?’ he asked, settling down in his bed.

‘No, I volunteered,’ Genji answered, finally looking up at him, attempting humour. ‘We were all convinced you’d find someway to get up to no good unsupervised.’

‘Hey, I got supervision,’ McCree countered. ‘Can’t catch a break with Angie, it’s all “No, McCree, smoking is prohibited in the infirmary” and “No, McCree, alcohol is expressly forbidden, you cannot take it while on medication”. Not that I don’t appreciate everything she’s done. I mean… ’

He gestured to his elevated arm. ‘You know.’

Genji nodded, cocking an eyebrow, his shoulders rising and falling in a shrug, calling attention to his own body. Genji knew very well.

‘Yeah,’ McCree said, closing his eyes with a sigh. The seconds ticked by in silence, and he cracked one eye open.

‘So, you come here often?’ he asked light-heartedly. Genji snorted a laugh.

‘You could say I’m a regular,’ he said, nodding to his arm. ‘How long until you are healed?’

McCree shrugged.

‘I’m confined in here till the end of the week, then the bandages come off and they assess how fucked up it is, then they talk about rehabilitation and therapy and exercise plans, and then and then and then…’ McCree trailed off, rubbing his hand over his eyes tired. He tried to smile, straining his cheeks. ‘Think Blackwatch will still be standing by the time I come back onto active duty?’

Genji shifted, casting his eyes to the side.  _Ah_.

‘That bad, huh?’

‘Commander Reyes and Strike Commander Morrison… they still have not yet returned from their meeting in Geneva,’ Genji replied. ‘The latest incident has brought Overwatch into question as well, and has raised some…  _concerns_. Apparently, certain things have been kept off the books by both commanding officers for quite some time, and are now being brought to light. There were a few choice words exchanged before they left.’

‘I’ll bet. Ah, shit.  _Shit_.’

McCree dragged his hand over his face, the path in front of them revealing itself with sudden, stark clarity, the end of the road startling close. He saw it unfold before him, the final domino falling in the long the chain of events that stretched back beyond his scope of vision, one after the other after the other after the other until they reached to here and now, with only one final choice remaining.

‘Ah shit…’ he breathed, his voice choking in his throat around the heavy lump that lodged itself there, the room blurring in front of his eyes. He sniffed, clearing his throat, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and finger. ‘Goddamn, I… y’know, it’s what you never expect that… that always seems to happen.’

‘You mean like your body being ripped apart and losing your only family all at once?’ Genji suggested, not cruelly. Still, it hit a gap in his armour, threatening to rip open a fissure and force him to spill out of it, even as he tried for focus, for control, pulling long slow breaths in through his nose and hissing them through his teeth, his eyes burning to release the flood building behind his eyelids.

A gentle pressure on his arm made him jump, turning in surprise towards Genji, his hand curled carefully around his shoulder in comfort.

‘It’s okay, you know,’ he said softly, looking away, his own voice catching. ‘When things like this happen. It’s okay to cry.’

Their eyes met, before McCree closed his eyes in resignation, curling his fingers around Genji’s hand and squeezing. Genji returned it, and at the light, insistent tug from McCree, he rose from the chair and slid onto the bed with graceful ease, wrapping himself around McCree, holding him with care of his injured arm. The quiet descended on them, broken only by the quiet, muffled sobs that were swallowed by the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to visit me on [tumblr](http://aluxra.tumblr.com)


End file.
